


Darkness Rises in Midgar

by Shadowfax214



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy VII (Video Game 1997), Final Fantasy VII Remake (Video Game 2020)
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Clerith, Crossover, Drama, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Halloween, I Can't Believe I Wrote This, Psychology, Violence, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-30
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:01:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,980
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27274603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shadowfax214/pseuds/Shadowfax214
Summary: Batman searches the world of Gaia for something that he must return to Gotham to ensure its survival. What other truths will he discover on this far away planet? Bruce Wayne meets the characters of Final Fantasy Seven.
Relationships: Aerith Gainsborough/Cloud Strife, Cloud Strife & Everyone
Comments: 4
Kudos: 9





	Darkness Rises in Midgar

**Author's Note:**

> Here goes nothing LOL.
> 
> There have been a lot of ideas to post a Batman mashup with Final Fantasy Seven after the latest actor to play the role admitted to loving the game as a kid and being a part of team Clerith. So this is my tribute to RP's Batman and I have no idea if I will make this a series or not but I have purposefully left this chapter/series open in case I want to go forward with it. Consider this a part of a Halloween mashup or something similar, I have never written a crossover before so tell me what you all think ;)
> 
> Quick Notes: This is an alternate universe, a heavily affected alternate universe. There is no Sephiroth, the timeline of FF7 is severely affected by a change in a major event. The setting is roughly one year after the beginning of the OG game. There is a lot of room for interpretation in this work. Thank You for reading!

The city of Midgar coalesced powerful green lights that cascaded small orbs of mako throughout the dark landscape. The giant floating metropolis boasted the appearance of infrastructure and commercialism through all eight sectors of military dominance.

Near the top surface's outer wall, a dark figure had just made his entrance from a far-off world. The path that had been traveled to arrive had not been easy or straightforward, yet the voyage had been a success.

The planet around him highlighted a steampunk vibe, almost as if time had been turned back many years, and the colors in the air made no sense as the scenery came into focus after his landing.

Bruce Wayne put a hand to his throbbing head and took in all of the surroundings. The burning turquoise lights that towered high above his position confused him as he surveyed this new city that vaguely reminded him of Gotham.

"Did it actually work?"

Speaking into an electronic device attached to his wrist, Batman tried to make sense of the atmosphere as Midgar's darkness enveloped him.

"Alfred, I think I made it this time. Can you get a fix on my position? Alfred, repeat, do you hear me?"

There was no sound; only static feedback came through the electronic communicator.

"Dammit, I must be out of range, or the signal is affected by some kind of interference."

As the dark knight cursed for not being able to reach out to his ally, a train sped by on the nearby tracks and distracted his worry for a minute.

The traveler pulled out another device from his gear packs and set up a portable radar system within minutes. He decided it was time to survey this new land, with which he was unfamiliar.

"There is some kind of energy being harvested from six giant cells. These multiple points appear to be the source of power for the city I am standing in. There are eight in total, but two are offline."

The latest arrival was speaking into a data recorder and making a note of the infrastructure of Midgar. Batman was dissecting the layout and trying to understand the new world he had crossed into.

"Preliminary scans show the city to be circular, the Y-Axis on the graph indicates a sub-level terrain, perhaps a second city exists below the main surface. I will investigate the lower level after a basecamp is created tonight."

Notes were being recorded on the data log screen; the dark crusader checked his other instruments for results on the other questions he needed to answer.

"The energy does not appear to be a form of natural fossil fuels or nuclear, there seems to be a network created from the cells, it appears the power source creates a form of electricity, but the reaction is produced; differently, this is worth future scientific study at another time."

Putting his recording device away, Batman scanned the streets, heading in the direction of a nearby train station. The bat suit was in full deployment as he walked towards the platform.

"Now that I've arrived, I'll need to find what I came here for."

The dark crusader packed his instruments away and walked into the unknown, not knowing what lied ahead.

-

"What are you talking about Jessie? I can never understand a damn thing you are trying to tell me sometimes!"

Barret was chastising Jessie for interrupting a meeting downstairs in Seventh Heaven. The gun-armed fighter had just been telling Wedge and Biggs about a mission they were about to go on in a few hours when Jessie had stormed downstairs to shout about a startling discovery.

"As I said, there was a fluxed gravity well in sector two! I have never witnessed a distortion like this before! My instruments were going haywire for a few minutes, which means whatever showed up over there is also going to be picked up by Shinra!"

Barret scoffed at this; he was curious what it all meant but could not speak science the way Jessie and Biggs were able to.

"Can you please speak words I can understand for a minute? What does all of that mean to us? Wedge and Biggs are about to go for a patrol in sector five. We have to defend our boundaries, even in the middle of this ceasefire, which is just a bunch of---"

Jessie jumped onto the table, aggravating Barret further than he already was.

"An object or person that isn't from our planet has probably arrived in sector two! Up on the plate! We have to go check it out now before Shinra gets there first, but by all means, if patrols are so important, I'll just call Cloud, and we can go ourselves!"

Barret finally had an epiphany. He jumped into action.

"Why didn't you say it like that in the first place?! Ah hell no, I ain't letting Shinra get their hands on nothing from another planet!"

Jessie already had her phone out; she was calling Cloud.

"What's up, Jessie?"

The fast-talking girl was her typical self when calling her favorite mercenary.

"Hey gorgeous, can you stop flirting with your wife for five minutes and help a girl get to sector two?"

She could have sworn there was a chuckle on the other line.

"Still sounds funny when I hear it out loud."

Jessie laughed at Cloud's mannerisms.

"Well, it's only been a few weeks, lover boy. Can you swing by and pick me up?"

The response was quick and to the point. 

"Yeah, you good with being on the back of a motorcycle?"

Just like old times, the brainiac was thrilled at the suggestion.

"Of course, I wouldn't have it any other way; give Aerith my love."

Cloud was happy Jessie had called; he must have been having a good day before taking on a new mission.

"I will; she says it's nice to hear from you. She also wants to know all about your new water filter ideas for sectors five and six the next time you're in that part of the slums."

They were in a hurry. Jessie had to get moving.

"Need you here asap honey, and I'll meet you outside of Seventh Heaven as soon as you can get here. Bring your sword."

Cloud understood.

"Copy that."

The call came to an end.

Wedge and Biggs were a little hurt that Jessie had reached out to Cloud without asking them for help as well.

"You know, we are a team here; we can back you up too."

Biggs had cut in after the phone was put away. Jessie was too busy packing grenades and getting supplies ready for the upcoming battle that might be taking place soon in sector two to pay attention.

"I needed some muscle, don't worry guys, it will be just like old times. Do we have any other bikes ready to make the trip?"

Barret nodded at Wedge to check the motor pool nearby and pulled his gun arm up to restock on ammunition.

Wedge sighed and walked over to the pinball machine; the secret entrance device carried him back upstairs as Biggs spoke over the noise.

"We should have at least one bike that Wedge and I can share; you can ride with Cloud just like you always do when you don't have anything to drive. You're lucky as hell that Aerith isn't the jealous type."

Jessie let out a small laugh; she knew how to stick up for herself.

"Please, I don't spend near as much time with him as she does, and Tifa has been nearly inseparable from Cloud lately; he is around plenty of other women besides me, don't worry about that."

Biggs held a smile while attaching his gun holster to his side. He gave a reasonable response.

"Yeah, but neither of them are as eager as you."

-

"Did she say it was urgent?"

Aerith just finished handing Cloud some materia; he placed the orbs into his sword before swinging it onto his back.

"No, but I think it sounded important. You and your mom going to be ok while I am out?"

The mercenary of sector seven was not accustomed to leaving Aerith's side at night, even with all of the fighting taking place in the slums over the past few months before the ceasefire had been signed.

However, Jessie had indeed sounded excited when she reached out to him a minute ago. This adventure might have been worth diving deeper into than usual.

"I thought getting married would calm those worries down a little. I think you still take your bodyguard role way too seriously, mister."

Cloud suppressed a grin at Aerith's banter as he kissed his wife goodbye. He kicked his motorcycle on and took off down the road outside of their home in sector five.

Elmyra's original house had been an easy target during the war. Shinra forces had been sure to destroy it during the height of all the battles in the slums. Barret and Cloud fought with everyone and everything they had to hold the line near that giant source of life, but nothing could stop the full-scale assault launched in the beginning of the war from Shinra. 

The mercenary and his friends were crestfallen after that defeat. Aerith reassured her loved ones that houses could be rebuilt. A real family existed in the care they shared for one another. After losing her home and moving all of the flowers that remained alive when the smoke cleared, Aerith agreed to build a new house with Cloud in sector five.

While not near as impressive as the old place, the small dwelling suited the newly married couple, and sharing a house with Elmyra had caused Cloud to enjoy her company more as time went on. The remaining flowers appeared to grow well there; the presence of the last ancient made sure of that.

The newlyweds were now living across from the cemetery on the other end of the sector.

Elmyra was overjoyed when the young couple decided to tie the knot. She kept spouting about needing grandchildren in her life. She also made sure to force the power couple away for a makeshift honeymoon after the impromptu wedding even though there was still a war going on in the city at the time. 

After a long debate, Cloud and Aerith went to Kalm for a weekend to get away from all the wreckage in Midgar, they hated to do it, but all of their friends and family had forced them out of the city and wouldn't take no for an answer.

The trip had shown them that Kalm had remained a neutral territory for outsiders the entire time battles had engulfed Midgar. The neighboring city was a haven for refugees and people who decided not to pick a side in all of the fighting. It had grown to a much larger size over the past year, with many citizens staying there permanently, mostly out in the countryside. 

Despite all of this, the young blonde always rolled his eyes when the talk would come up about children because there were so many other problems for them both to think about outside of those concerns. Aerith would just smile in those times because she knew her mother wanted them to grow their family.

The idea always brought out feelings of inner happiness in the flower girl's heart.

Cloud continued through the streets at high speed. The sound of the vehicle carried over the quiet landscape.

The traveler did not enjoy making noise like this at night, but it was for a good cause; it sounded like his friends needed his help. The motorcycle roared in the evening wind; a SOLDIER was on his way.

The path ahead swung into view and the black motorcycle kicked into overdrive as Cloud made his way through the entrance to sector five. He throttled the turbo as high as it would go as he tore into the streets that connected sector five to sector six. 

There was no checkpoint or roadblocks set up between sectors five and six in the slums. The engine roared as his vehicle continued through the dirt roads. The path ahead was clear; he would be at the sector seven gates within a matter of minutes.

The drive made Cloud recollect his thoughts on the war. The resistance had Shinra at a stalemate. The two sides tired each other out and declared a ceasefire. Midgar was lucky to be in one piece after all of the carnage that had destroyed so many lives over the past year.

They were lucky, all of his friends, his new family. They were strong and knew how to survive.

("How long will it last? Can we keep Barret from attacking Shinra while there is no active combat?")

That thought crept in the back of his mind as Cloud approached the gate to sector seven.

An armed patrol stood next to the gate and held up their weapons as the high beams approached.

"Tell me the security passcode for this sector, or you'll be arrested immediately!"

Cloud spoke up over the noise of his bike.

"The sky is clear in sector six."

Security codes for travel within the slums were exchanged everyday between resistance fighters; code words and phrases changed consistently to prevent spies or smugglers from traveling between sectors undetected. The checkpoints had worked well during the war and were still in place between the slums.

The soldiers put their guns down and acknowledged him with appreciation.

"Our apologies, my friend, can never be too careful nowadays. The peace and quiet have got everyone on edge. We were worried because we noticed the sword."

The blonde nodded in return and responded.

"Yeah, it's been weird for sure."

Cloud looked over at the playground equipment he once sat on top of with Aerith all of those nights ago before they had entered Wall Market. The large black gate was slowly opening in the background.

It was a small miracle any of the slides and jungle gyms were still standing. It had only been about a year since that night, but to Cloud, it felt like a lifetime ago.

The gate had opened, the soldiers stood over to the side, the motorcycle kicked back up and took off into sector seven.

The black bike came to a rest in front of Seventh Heaven.

Jessie was already waiting for him.

"My knight in shining armor!"

Cloud gave her an unimpressed look.

"How long did you wait to tell me that one?"

Jessie smiled as she sat on the back of Cloud's bike. She carried a bag that was probably full of firearms and explosives.

"Only a couple of minutes."

Wedge and Biggs pulled up on their own bike; while not near as impressive or road capable as Cloud's, it looked like it would make the trip.

"Ready to go, buddy?"

Biggs asked if they were ready to go.

"Wait a minute, where's Tifa and Barret?"

Cloud was curious about the other members of Avalanche.

"Boss said he would meet us there with Tifa. Don't ask me how they are going to get there. I already tried."

"Sounds odd, but I guess we'll meet up with them later."

Kicking his motorcycle back to life, Cloud took off towards the gate with Wedge and Biggs behind himself and Jessie.

-

"Coming up on the nearest station, full-service train network leads to all parts of the city. It appears that the city is numbered by sectors; the number sequence goes from one to eight. The numbers must represent districts. Each one must be the size of a small town based on the scale and size of the tracks."

Batman was logging more information into his data recorder; he could tap into his internal communications within the bat-suit to record information.

"Civilians spotted, going dark, cutting audio."

The masked vigilante turned off his audio receiver as he walked further into the shadows of the train station; finding plenty of areas to hide had been easy.

Sneaking onto a train car without being spotted had been a little more complicated.

Bruce Wayne was no stranger to espionage and subterfuge. Moving like a cat through the shadows was second nature to his stealth-like ability but not being seen was a whole other ballgame.

After tossing some coins to the other side of the station, Batman made it onto the last train car without being revealed. The two guards in bright-colored blue uniforms had run away from the locomotive to check on the source of the noise before he made the jump.

There were not that many people on the trains at night. The majority remaining had moved up to the cars near the center of the train. There was only one other person in the last car as Batman had hitched his ride for the evening.

The other passenger was passed out drunk, deeply sleeping it off.

The dark knight smirked as he examined the man he was sharing the car with.

"Rest well, my friend, I have an electronic data grid to find. After that, you can have your train car back."

Pulling some wires out of a nearby socket, the masked traveler went to work on discovering more information about the world of mako.

As the knowledge and breakdown of his studies continued, the train conductor spoke over the loudspeaker:

"Attention citizens of Midgar, we have approximately eight minutes before we reach the next security scan checkpoint. Please remember your Identification cards must be present and in working order for you to travel between sectors safely."

The quiet trespasser knew what this meant, a security sweep that would probably happen while the train was running. There was a need to buy more time. He looked over at his nearby travel companion and came up with a plan.

"Well, it's never easy, is it, my friend?"

The drunk man was still passed out on the floor.

Taking the passed-out body by the arms and legs, the masked figure picked up the nearby sleeper, threw him over his back, and quietly opened the door to the next car.

Peaking inside showed that all of the passengers were near the other end of the adjoining section. No one was paying attention to the unknown visitor as he set the unconscious man into a nearby seat. The last thing the caped crusader did was remove the man's ID from his side pocket before going back to the previous car and shutting the door behind him.

"Hope my friend doesn't get into too much trouble; maybe he'll sleep through the whole thing."

Picking up where he left off, Wayne connected the power source to a data terminal that had been pulled from his bag of electronic tools.

The codes passing through the terminal appeared to be running in sequential order as the tablet filled with data that ran across the screen at the speed of lightning.

"Once I have a scanned matrix map of the city and the lower level, I'll need to set up shop. If I can boost the communicator's signal, I will try to reach Alfred again. Then I can find what I need to look for."

There was a pause of frustration.

"That blood vaccine has to be here; it just has to."

-

Leaving sector seven before the security checkpoint closed was a simple task. Moving between the other sectors had been exhausting as Avalanche made their way past sectors six, five, four, then pulled up to the outer gate at sector three.

"The lights in sector three are always broken."

Jessie spoke the passcode out for sector three with a sigh. The resistance movement was on equal strength militarily with Shinra as the war had brought so many rebels to Avalanche's aid after the plan to blow the sector seven pillar had been thwarted and exposed to the public.

Nobody could have believed this ragtag group of misfits were able to stop the Turks. Barret still sang songs of that victory on occasion, depending on his mood on certain nights in Seventh Heaven.

The resistance against the electric power company exploded the week after, with thousands of rebels coming to Midgar from all over the world, determined to fight Shinra with everything they had.

Avalanche became a name known worldwide as the war with Shinra continued, and the rebels were now a powerful force to be reckoned with. While the corrupt government controlled all the areas on the plate, the entirety of the slums and underground paths were occupied by the rebels, right now they had Shinra on the ropes, and they knew it too.

The first president had resigned in disgrace after mass uprisings threatened to tear the fabric of democracy apart. The sole son of the former leader took his place within the hierarchy because of the chaos. A small calming effect came over the populace when Rufus had succeeded his father with a somber speech on Shinra's role within everyone's lives.

Unbeknownst to many citizens of the public, it had been President Rufus who negotiated the ceasefire. Against his cabinet and military leaders' advice, the offer was too good to pass up as both sides suffered heavy losses with untold amounts of destruction both above and below the plate.

Small attempts at reconstruction were popping up all over the city; many citizens wished to move on with their lives as the ceasefire kept the tension on edge; everyone was worried about being thrust into another war.

Espionage missions into the plate were not uncommon; they just had to be careful not to raise the alarm.

Too many people had fought and died for the ceasefire to take effect. The four freedom fighters couldn't screw it all up in one night.

This would be a grab and go mission, with no room for failure or sloppy tactics.  
Cloud ran a thought of Barret crashing into the area with a loud entrance and pushed the idea out of his head as quickly as it came.

He shouldn't worry about anyone else until they arrived at the target.

"What did you say we were after Jessie?"

The bike had revved up again as the sector three gates became smaller in the rear-view mirror. They were quickly approaching the tunnels to the surface. The cyclists needed to be careful when they passed the barriers between the two different worlds of Midgar. 

"I don't know yet, Cloud! It could be a person; it could be an object, maybe something we have never seen before! All I know is this is a once in a lifetime scientific find!"

Cloud winced about science being the motivation here, he thought it might have been something related to the war, but if Jessie said this was really that important, he would back her up.

She had always done the same for him and his other friends.

"Do you have an idea of where it landed? Sector two is a fairly good size to go exploring all over the top of the plate."

Jessie pulled a scanner from her bag as the roar of the engine continued to hum loudly in the background.

"Yeah, we can isolate the trace signal with this! It's a cool particle tracker I've been working on for a long time now!"

Cloud didn't understand what it was or what the new gadget did, but he nodded at Jessie's confidence as the two motorcycles approached the gate to sector two. There was an armed patrol that held their weapons at the ready as the two bikes pulled up.

"Hey, is that Cloud?! Oh, and that's Jessie!"

An old friend from back in the day spoke up to greet his brothers in arms.  
Jessie recognized the man immediately; Cloud just gave a quick smirk and nodded his head.

"What's going on, dude?! I can't believe you're on guard duty!"

Wymer from the sector seven neighborhood watch greeted his friends and smiled at Jessie's remark. He spoke up before any of the other patrolmen asked any more questions.

"Do you have this sector's security codes? I still have to follow the rules, even with my friends."

Cloud answered with the current security phrase as the nearby guard members signaled for the large barrier to be opened. 

While the sequences switched every few hours, the system worked on a semi-rotational basis with phrases and keywords. The clearance code system had been a nuisance for the underground world but still provided great results for the lockdown against Shinra. Up to this point, the method of communication had not been hacked by the enemy. 

"Yep, we'll open the gate; why are you all headed into sector two? This area is pretty close to the border up there."

Jessie and Cloud both carried severe looks at the question; they decided it wouldn't hurt to tell their allies about what was going on.

"A critical signal came in on my radar earlier tonight. We have to investigate the source to make sure it's something that Shinra can't get their hands on. Right now, I'm not sure of what it is but the last thing we want to have happen is another world technology ending up in enemy hands."

Wymer nodded at that sentiment; the gate had finished opening after Jessie had finished her explanation.

"I wish you guys luck with your hunt, be careful and quiet up on the surface. There are traps and surveillance everywhere; if you get spotted, get out of there quick!"

The two motorcycles roared back to life as they flew past the gate that separated sector two from the transportation tunnels ahead. After waving goodbye to Wymer, Cloud saw that the paved roadways were running beneath his motorcycle. They were about to climb to the surface, further towards the source of the distortion.

-

Batman had accomplished his first objective; he had more than enough information to set up a workstation that would serve as his base of operations. The only two questions that plagued him now were:

"Where do I want to set up my equipment? Can I find a place where no one will ask too many questions? I need to blend in; the Batsuit won't do that for me."

Examining himself, Bruce Wayne knew he would have to lose his armor before moving further into the unknown world. While all of the people around were human, he didn't think anyone would understand his attire choice.

The masked vigilante knew he needed to keep a low profile. Removing his suit of protection as the security scan went off without a hitch made him realize that creativity and determination would see him through his challenges.

A small alarm was going off in the next train car. The newcomer sighed as he bolted the door to his own car shut.

"I am sorry, my friend didn't mean to ruin your night. I owe you one."

There was no doubt that armed guards would be on their way to this train the next time it stopped. As Batman packed up all his things and put his suit away inside his bag, he decided now was the time to ditch the locomotive.

"After I hit the tracks, it will be time to go further underground. I can find somewhere to work and keep anonymous. There will be plenty of places to hide in the lower city."

Jumping off the train with all of his gear strapped to his back, Bruce Wayne traveled further into the train tunnels, heading down towards the depths of the slums.

The vigilante was heading into the passageways outside of sector two.

-

The new gadget in Jessie's hands kept making different beeping noises as Cloud kept the bike rolling into the tunnels. The beeps were getting louder, and Jessie was getting more annoying as she kept fidgeting with the device with both hands.

Cloud wondered if she purposely liked leaning against his back while she worked on her electronics. She needed to take it easier nowadays with all of the flirting. The mercenary was a married man now.

"Are you having any luck with that thing yet?"

They needed to narrow the space where they would search before making it out of the tunnels. Cloud wanted to know where to go when they broke into the surface.

Jessie was frustrated and was about to say something when she completely flipped out and shouted:

"WAIT! TURN AROUND AND GO LEFT!"

Cloud immediately got the message and turned sharply at the demand. The vehicles returned to the depths of the tunnel passages. The bikes had narrowly avoided exiting the underground roadways. 

"What is it?! Did you find what you were looking for?"

The ponytailed girl shouted in acknowledgment, with Biggs and Wedge following behind as fast as their bike would carry them.

"Yes! The particles have moved and are only a mile in this direction!"

Cloud prepared himself for what they were about to find. The object had indeed moved from the surface to the underground tunnels, which could only mean one thing.

"Jessie, it has to be something alive."

The brains of the mission had pulled out a handgun and loaded the chamber while Cloud was warning her about what they were about to face.

"I hear you, pretty boy."

Biggs had his machine gun ready and was preparing for a fight as well. It was time to see what they were up against.

The sounds of the nearby trains were echoing in the distance. They had to get this over with fast to avoid getting hit by one.

The signal pinged loudly, and Cloud's high beams found who they were looking for. The tracker had been spot on; it was indeed a person who must have traveled from the surface.

The expert driving technique caused the blonde swordsman to come to a perfect stop in front of the surprised stranger as his companion's weapon was pointed right towards the individual's position.

The unknown man looked surprised to see anyone as he reached for his pocket.

Jessie was too fast to allow any sudden moves.

"Put that hand of yours back down buddy, or I'll blow you to holy hell!"

Biggs and Wedge had pulled up next to Cloud and Jessie.

Biggs had his weapon pointed at the stranger too, Wedge held the handles on the bike steady and asked the first question.

"Who are you buddy, and where do you come from?"

The stranger sighed; he did not look like he wanted to entertain anybody with answers to their questions. The guns must have been a strong motivation. Nevertheless, the stranger shot his own queries back to the motorcyclists. 

"Who are you? Why are you in these tunnels at night, and why do you care about what I am doing right now?"

Cloud's arms were crossed. Before being able to say anything, Jessie had chimed in again:

"We'll ask the questions around here; you aren't from Midgar, are you?"

Bruce Wayne was a highly intelligent person; he knew that the planet he had landed on contained advanced forms of civilization as he had discovered a public transportation system with security sweeps and energy dissipation systems through the metal metropolis. 

The signs that pointed towards his IQ had warned him he needed to set up a private workspace, and it was quite impressive that he had been discovered this quickly.

"What makes you say something like that?"

The stranger had adjusted his posture, so he was standing straight with his hands at his sides. There were no signs of aggression as he listened to the renegades on the motorcycles. It was fairly obvious the four people in front of him did not belong to a government organization.

Jessie held up her device. The newcomer's mouth opened as he looked at the gadget in her hands.

"That's a portable particle scanner. Were you able to build that?"

Jessie's mouth opened wide too; she was not expecting to find a fellow traveler that understood her work.

"Yes, I was! How do you know what this is?! Who are you?!"

Batman debated whether or not he should trust people he had just met. As the thought ran through his mind, a sound approached nearby.

A green truck was pulling into the tunnel, and Cloud already knew who it was.

Barret and Tifa had joined the party.

Tifa was driving, and as expected, Barret jumped out of the truck as the vehicle came to a standstill. His gun-arm was already raised at the new arrival.

"All right! Who do we have here?!"

Cloud put a hand to his forehead; they needed to get a move on and figure out what to do next. There were practically in enemy territory and were pushing their luck every minute they remained on the train tracks. 

The swordsman spoke:

"Just tell us your name; you aren't from around here, but you don't work for Shinra or any of their projects, do you?"

The dark knight knew he was facing some kind of coalition; this was some kind of group with a purpose that caused them to search for him. While it was foolish to trust anyone at this point, there was no choice for the crusader as he made a proposition.

He was outnumbered six to one regardless.

"My name is Bruce Wayne; you are correct; I am not from this planet. I do not work for anything called Shinra, and I am here on a mission to find something unique to this world."

Cloud did not say anything to this; Barret shook his head as Jessie shrieked with joy, and Tifa adjusted her face to the side in confusion.

After letting the moment die down for a second, the visitor spoke up again:

"I understand you have a lot of questions and that you do not trust me; if I appear to be an enemy, I apologize for giving off that impression. Since you are obviously here to capture me, let's have you take me to your leaders, and I'll convince them I am no threat to all of your people."

Barret and Wedge burst out laughing. Biggs was trying not to be rude but could not help himself as he started chuckling with his friends.

Cloud and Tifa did not react to the words of the stranger. Barret was the first to respond.

"We don't have any leaders you have to impress. If you ain't Shinra, then you can ride back with us in the truck, make any stupid moves, and I'll blow your head off myself! You got that, buddy?"

The newcomer nodded and walked with Barret over to the truck. Avalanche's leader motioned for him to get in and turned around to whisper with Cloud and Tifa.

"I want you to stay behind us as we head back to the bar. Make sure he doesn't try anything stupid; I don't think he's a threat, but you can never tell."

Cloud agreed and got back on his bike; Jessie was on the back of the seat and ready for takeoff. Their newcomer had gotten her excited with the scientific possibilities that were opened up because of his arrival.

She wanted to learn more about the whole situation. While being a typically flirtatious woman, her interest was purely academic…………for now.

Everything went off without a hitch as the group loaded up and left the train tracks that bordered between Midgar's two worlds.

Tifa was driving and asking questions as Barret held his weapon steady if or when their passenger tried anything slick during the drive.

"You said you were here to find something; do you know what it is?"

Batman looked up at Tifa after she had asked her question; he could reveal some of his intentions but leave out a few details. Internal thoughts told him the people escorting him into the depths of the lower tier could be trusted.

They had plenty of opportunities to shoot him after all and had yet to do so.

"I am looking for a vaccine to take back to my world."

Tifa was intrigued; she was not expecting that answer. Barret looked surprised as well.

The gun-armed fighter spoke up:

"You think that medicine is here to find for your home?"

The newcomer looked at Barret's face; it showed one of genuine concern.

"Not just medicine, a specially formulated biological compound that can combine with antibodies to regenerate a vaccine to counter a virus that is infecting my world."

An infection? What was all of this? What did this new information mean?

Tifa and Barret wondered what their visitor was trying to say. The fact that he was looking for something unique did explain a lot about his arrival. Maybe there was more to the stranger than met the eye; his outward appearance showed a lot of intelligence and technological understanding.

-

The six friends had arrived safely in the confines of Seventh Heaven. The bar had been closed to customers and neighbors as Avalanche let their new guest downstairs to start a more thorough interrogation.

Barret led the charge:

"So, let me get this straight, you are actually not from this world? I am just trying to understand what the hell is going on…………."

The traveler sighed as he rubbed his eyes from the fatigue of telling the same story over and over. 

"Correct, I am from another planet. My home is a city called Gotham."

Barret scoffed, "Sounds ridiculous."

Jessie piped in at the last remark.

"You have a gun crafted on your arm, Cloud's sword is bigger than me, his wife uses magic, we power our buildings and vehicles with mako instead of fuel, and a place called Gotham sounds ridiculous?"

Avalanche's leader stared Jessie down with a glare; it appeared the newcomer already won her over. The brainiac continued:

"Why not let him tell us more about why he is here? I think we can trust him."

Tifa and Cloud seemed to be on the fence. They were both standing nearby with their arms crossed. Neither of them looked to have decided on the stranger yet. Biggs and Wedge weren't saying anything as everybody weighed the untold story against their protective judgment for the slums.

Before the newcomer could continue telling everyone else why he was in Midgar, an alert pinged on Jessie's workstation computer monitor.

"Hmmmmm………."

The joyful member of Avalanche jumped into her chair and started looking at satellite images on her main screen. Biggs sat in a chair next to her and put on a headset. He spoke into his device as he pulled out his phone.

"Anything new on the scanners?"

Jessie was one step ahead of her ally.

"I am picking up another distortion; something else just came into the city. The trace compounds are similar to what we scanned earlier today."

Wayne was intrigued by their understanding of the surrounding world and asked an important question.

"Did someone else follow me here?"

Barret was getting worried. Tifa and Cloud were watching Jessie's computer with interest.

"You didn't ask anyone to come with you? Did you?"

The stranger looked at the gun-armed man and shook his head.

"No…………I came alone…………. I don't know how anyone followed me unless……………."

-

"We are picking up the signal………about to make contact."

A Shinra SOLDIER communicated his actions with his superiors and moved ahead in the alley's darkness as the group of four armed men walked with flashlights and rifles down a narrow corridor.

No overhead lights existed in this section of sector two as the location was pitch black from the night sky. The shadows covered the top of the plate and hid large warehouse storage spaces in the industrial district that surrounded the search team's efforts.

Shinra Headquarters had picked up a signal around the same time Avalanche had discovered the second distortion and had sent a group immediately out to retrieve whatever had caused their electronic instruments to fluctuate. 

"I hear something………wait a minute……….it appears to be…………AHHH!!!!................."

The first member of the search party had gone dark while the second soldier started firing his weapon madly. The bullets ricocheted off of all the surrounding metal as the terrified member of Shinra screamed into his helmet's communicator.

"CONTACT! I REPEAT CON-------------"

The second member of the squad had stopped communicating with the other two SOLDIERS as the remaining men were frantically running up and down the dark corridors, breathing heavily at the frightening sounds that surrounded their racing heartbeats.

"HQ! This is echo five-seven! We need immedia-----------"

The third SOLDIER was taken out as something menacing approached the final person that made up the search party.

"Request immediate assistance! HQ! We need help down here!"

All feedback between the final SOLDIER and Shinra tower must have been offline because no one responded to the cries for help as a twisted laugh hovered in the area around the trembling military man.

"Who's there?!"

The last member of the original four called out to the darkness and finally found the source of the horrifying sound as he spun around and shined his light on the nearby illuminated face before releasing a gasp of terror at what was staring into the shocked depths of his soul. 

A slender, tall man with a face painted like a horrific clown smiled menacingly at his opponent before covering his enemy's mouth with one hand and pushing the frightened foe to the ground with the other as the subdued man's eyes were wide in pure horror. The new villain only asked one question as he pulled out a knife that was covered in blood.

"WHY……… SO ………...SERIOUS?!"

The last member of the military search's muffled screams faded as the Joker stabbed him in the final hours of the evening as the rain had begun to fall on Midgar.

**Author's Note:**

> Writing this was a lot of fun ;) Yes; Aerith and Cloud are married, it helps so much with the plot not having a love triangle to develop as the story unfolds plus I honestly see that as an outcome if no one leaves Midgar in this alternate storyline that already doesn't make any sense LOL. (Sorry I'm biased.) 
> 
> Any feedback, suggestions, criticisms, or thoughts? Feel free to comment! Thank You for reading!
> 
> I always told myself I would never write a crossover because it breaks the rules; however:
> 
> The greatest cinematic villain once famously said: "The only sensible way to live in this world is without rules! And tonight you're gonna break your one rule."
> 
> So I took that advice to heart and wrote my first crossover. 
> 
> NOTES/Legal Stuff: I do not own the rights to Batman or the Joker, all collective property of those characters belong to Warner Bros and DC Comics, I also do not own the rights to Final Fantasy Seven and all collective property of those characters belong to Square Enix. This entire chapter is a work of fanfiction where all interactions and dialogue are purely coincidental and should be treated as such and never taken seriously.


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